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Sub Pop Recording artists Handsome Furs began as an idea in the winter of 2005, and currently consists of Montreal residents Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry. Boeckner also sings and plays guitar in Wolf Parade and before that did much the same in Atlas Strategic, while Perry maintains a career as a writer. Dark and minimal while noisy and earnest, the fabric of their record together was just as informed by late nights as it was by Scandinavian black metal. Truly, the point of creating Handsome Furs was to be as sparse and repetitive as possible with the help of little more than vocals, guitars, and a new drum machine. Through this, songs of earthbound captains, eggs made of gold and iron, and sleepless bodies were born. Boeckner’s affected vocals thinly resonate as they are ushered in by a frenzied undertone of fear and uncertainty, all punctuated by drum machine beats. Through the course of each track, a deep-seated sense of longing struggles with staunch realism as a restless disdain for both urban life and smaller towns collide.

“Handsome Furs Hate This City,” for one, shouts out against the blasphemy of everyday life while wrestling apathy into a verbal chokehold. It floats by like a stilted daydream of desire, popping in and out of consciousness. The lush “Sing! Captain” reaches comparative heights, all awash in restrained static yet remaining comfortingly human as Boeckner intones, “Feed them wire, feed them chrome / We hate this place here, it’s our home.” Followed up by the triumphant “Dead + Rural,” it would be easy to collapse underneath the weight of the sound, wide-eyed and world-weary. What is offered here ultimately creates an edifice of time and place, and upholds the matter of perhaps seeking a home between the two, if such a thing exists at all.

Handsome Furs booked a tour of Europe before writing any songs, and have since opened for the likes of Paavoharju, Islaja, David Cross, and Modest Mouse before releasing a proper record. Recorded with Arlen Thompson at Wolf Parade’s studio, Mount Zoomer, in the heart of December, Plague Park is their debut. It is a record of melancholic tendency and heartfelt desire; restless and nomadic, it’s a stripped-down symphony roaming between city and country, and made for ears of either side.

THEESatisfaction are Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White. Stas was born and raised in Tacoma, Cat in Seattle and Hawaii. The pair live/laugh/love/dance and create in Seattle, WA. They write, produce and perform their own material, funk-psychedelic feminista sci-fi epics with the warmth and depth of Black Jazz and Sunday morning soul, frosted with icy raps that evoke equal parts Elaine Brown, Ursula Rucker and Q-Tip. They met by what was clearly cosmic happenstance at the University of Washington and haven’t stopped the flow since.

There’s an album by ‘70s Blue Note flautist Bobbi Humphrey that’s suggestive of THEESatisfaction. The cover is black and white, Humphrey’s afro full and wide; next to her radiant smile a description is inscribed, a paraphrase of which might read:

THEESatisfaction. Where are they coming from? Where are they going to? If we’re straight on our priorities, you’ll be listening to their album while I tell you about some of the answers…
First principle: they’re positive energy. Black energy, black women leaping oceans and continents at a single bound. With positive strength of purpose.
Further, they’re black purity. Hear that in their intonation. Without trickery. They know the gimmicks, scorn to use ‘em. Rather, they’ll face you and relate what’s in their hearts, faithfully and incorruptibly.

Immediately embraced for their singular sound, unflinching commentary, and immortal groove, Stas and Cat made friends, fans and family from coast to coast via their own immaculate grind; a combo of sharp digital hustle and self-booked, self-financed tours that connected them to like minds everywhere. Even crowds with nary a right foot between them find the steps when indoctrinated with THEESat’s unorthodox but right-on-time rhythms. Synchronized, sinewy and sensuous, the regal Stas and Cat channel the higher, whipping like waves of space-borne radiation onstage, leaving a trail of glowing observers abuzz like Geiger counters.

Like their comrades Shabazz Palaces (you may have heard these two on last year’s move Black Up), THEESatisfaction came upon the scene with lovingly handmade CDs of their self-released albums, the first of which was 2008’s That’s Weird. All has been in preparation for the album they’ve envisioned for years, their debut full-length on Sub Pop Records, awE NaturalE.
THEESatisfaction, the Queens Supreme. Bring yourself.